Report No. 06004: All Saint's School (Upper), The Mount, York; Archaeological Watching Brief. June 2006
Report Author: Guy Hopkinson. Web version.
Contributors: Alan Vince & Kate Steane (AVAC).
Ordnance Survey based figures replaced with GoogleMaps for copyright reasons. Hard copy available at York City SMR.

1.0 Introduction

This document presents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at All Saint's School (Upper), The Mount, York. The archaeological fieldwork took place between 22nd March and 24th May 2006.

While no archaeological features or deposits were encountered within the footprint of the proposed building, a small assemblage of Roman pottery attests a Roman presence either on or close to the site. In addition, the presence of an in situ burial was noted on the very periphery of the groundworks. This is presumed to be Roman, but in the circumstances could not be adequately investigated and no dating evidence was found in association with it.

2.0 Site Location, Topography & Land Use

The development site is located within the grounds of All Saint's School (Upper), between Scarcroft Road to the northeast and Mill Mount to the southwest. The National Grid Reference for the site is 4596 4509.

The school grounds have been terraced to allow development on the site, and the current development area lies on the lower terrace, immediately to the southwest of Scarcroft Road. Prior to development this area formed part of the school sports area.

Figure 1. Site Location. NGR 459580 450992 (red boundary line is approximate).

3.0 Archaeological Background

Relatively little is known regarding the prehistory of the area, although work at Holgate Docks carried out by York Archaeological Trust did produce evidence relating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. This included a stone axe and Bronze Age pottery (B. Antoni, pers. comm.).

All Saint's School is situated to the southwest of the colonia in an area of the city well known for its Roman archaeology, in particular the cemetery running along The Mount. Blossom Street and The Mount are thought to follow the alignment of the Roman road (Road 10) running from York to Tadcaster, and this, along with a number of smaller adjoining roads formed the focus of an extensive extramural cemetery (RCHM, 1962).

The cemetery seems to have been founded in the very early years of Roman York, i.e. the late first or early second century AD, as suggested by an epitaph from a tomb tablet at The Mount recording a member of the LEGIO IX HISPANA (Jones, 1984). It then appears to have witnessed heavy continued use throughout the Roman period.

Observations of Roman inhumations and cremations have been made in this area over many years and though the earlier records are fairly piecemeal, recent investigations have provided a more detailed picture of the extent and character of the cemetery. Perhaps the best known of these is Wenham's excavation at Trentholme Drive, to the southwest of All Saint's School, where over 300 inhumations and more than 50 cremations were revealed (Wenham, 1968; Jones, 1984).

In the past few years several small scale archaeological investigations in the immediate vicinity of the site have added further to our knowledge of the cemetery, including work carried out by OSA at Shepherd Engineering Services (Palmer, 2002) and MAP at Mill Mount School (MAP 1991).

Apart from the evidence for the cemetery, there is tentative evidence for Roman industrial activity in the area, such as stone working and jewellery making. Jones (1984) has suggested that this might be associated with the provision of funeral services, e.g. the manufacture of tombstones, and possibly grave goods.

The Roman cemetery appears to have been briefly reused in the early medieval period, several early medieval cremation urns being discovered near Dalton Terrace in the late 1890s (Stead, 1958). During most of the medieval period, however, it seems that the majority of this area would have been open common land.

During the Great Siege of York in 1644, The Mount was the location of a large sconce, built to defend the city (Wenham, 1994). This is thought to have been situated at the junction of Dalton Terrace with The Mount, but no evidence for surviving archaeological traces of the structure has yet been found.

top ^

4.0 Aims & Objectives

The aims and objectives of the watching brief were to identify and record the presence or absence of any archaeological features that might be disturbed during groundworks, and to record the condition, character, extent and date of any such deposits.

top ^

5.0 Methodology

Although the contractors initial estimate of the timescale of the archaeological monitoring was eight days, in the event the work proceeded on a very intermittent basis, eventually covering a period of just over two months. During this time whenever intrusive groundworks took place an archaeologist was present on site to monitor the works. These groundworks consisted of the removal of an embankment against an existing terrace retaining wall, a topsoil strip of the proposed building footprint and subsequent ground level reduction. The proposed building will be supported on piles and it was therefore not necessary to excavate any foundation trenches.

During the embankment removal, topsoil strip and ground level reduction an archaeologist was on site to monitor the works. Any areas of soil discolouration or variation were rapidly hand cleaned and assessed for their archaeological potential. Soil removed during the groundworks was scanned for artefacts.

The final groundworks involved the excavation of a small sondage to the northeast of the proposed building.

Each deposit encountered during the groundworks was recorded using standard single context recording techniques in a database on a handheld Palm OS device, and synchronised with an Access database at the end of each site visit. Working photographs were taken using a Canon EOS 350D digital camera. Levels were recorded in relation to current ground levels, 'ground level' being taken as the surface of the adjacent tennis court.

Figure 2 shows the area subject to topsoil stripping and archaeological monitoring.

Figure 2. Area subject to topsoil strip & archaeological monitoring (red)
and approximate position of skeleton [1003] (blue circle).

top ^

6.0 Results

6.1 Context Sequence

The earliest deposits encountered were natural clays [1002] extending across the entire proposed building footprint. The natural was located only twenty centimetres below current ground level, rising slightly to the southwest, and consisted of reddish brown clay with frequent cobble and pebble inclusions. Over the vast majority of the site no archaeological features were evident cutting into the natural, which had presumably been truncated during the earlier terracing of the site.

On completion of most of the groundworks the contractors on site cut back the material forming the southwest section of the site by approximately ten centimetres in order to straighten the section. In the process of doing this, the feet and lower part of the tibia and fibula of an inhumation [1003] were disturbed, lying two centimetres below the current ground level of the adjacent tennis court (see Plate 3). As this inhumation lay beneath the site section, with an existing classroom directly above, it was impossible to lift the burial. The immediate area, however, was cut back slightly to reveal the knees of the inhumation, thereby establishing it to be an in situ burial rather than disarticulated lower leg bones, and appeared to be aligned east-west. The truncated and disturbed bones were recovered and reburied alongside the remainder of the inhumation. While no evidence for a cut was visible in the section, the grave apparently having been backfilled with the natural removed during its excavation, it was obviously cut into natural deposits, which survive at a slightly higher level at this edge of the site where the terrace begins to rise. No coffin was evident, and no artefacts were recovered in association with the burial. The inhumation therefore remains undated, but is likely to be Roman.

Along the southwest edge of the site, butting an existing retaining wall and overlying inhumation [1003], was an embankment of material overlying the natural. This proved to be of very recent date, comprising highly mixed reddish brown clay with various modern plastic bags, concrete, glass, brick and metal fragments throughout. The embankment material [1001] appeared to consist of redeposited natural mixed with modern material (see Plate 2). This extended approximately six metres from the retaining wall.

The embankment and remainder of the area were overlain by topsoil and turf [1000]. Over the embankment this was found to be only five centimetres in depth, increasing to approximately twenty centimetres over the remainder of the site.

Context List: Site Code arc06004

context	feature	type	period	interpretation
1000	1000	deposit	modern	topsoil
1001	1001	deposit	modern	bank
1002	1002	deposit	-	natural
1003	1003	skeleton	?roman	inhumation
1004	1004	cut	?roman	grave cut
1005	1004	deposit	?roman	grave fill

6.2 Finds

A small assemblage of finds was recovered, all from within the topsoil, context [1000]. The assemblage consisted of disarticulated bone, which was reburied on site, and thirteen sherds of pottery, which were subject to an assessment (Appendix 1).

top ^

7.0 Conclusions

The results of the watching brief indicate that over the majority of the site, past terracing activity has truncated any archaeological features that may have been present.

The discovery of a presumed Roman inhumation at the rear of this lower terrace, i.e. within undisturbed natural forming part of the upper terrace, would suggest that this area was at one time within the area of the Roman cemetery extending along The Mount. Any further burials to the northeast of the terrace would appear to have been disturbed during the terracing of the site, but to the southwest, beneath the upper terrace, it is likely that further burials may remain in situ under the existing school buildings.

top ^

8.0 Archive

No physical archive was generated during the watching brief, all recording having been carried out digitally.

The finds are currently held by Archaeoscope, but will be offered for deposition with the Yorkshire Museum in the near future.

top ^

9.0 Plates

top ^

10.0 Bibliography

Dickenson, C. & Wenham, P. 1957. Discoveries in the Roman Cemetery on the Mount. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. 39

Jones, R.F.J. 1984. The Cemeteries of Roman York. In P.V. Addyman & V.E. Black (eds.) Archaeological Papers from York. York: York Archaeological Trust.

MAP. 1993. All Saints School, Mill Mount, York: Archaeological watching brief. Unpublished report.

Palmer, F. 2002. Mill Mount, York. Report on an archaeological evaluation. Report No. OSA01EV12. Unpublished report.

RCHME. 1962. The City of York, vol. 1, Eboracum. RCHME.

Stead, I.M. 1958. An Anglian cemetery on the Mount. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 39: 427-435.

Wenham, P. 1968. The Romano-British Cemetery at Trentholme Drive, York. Ministry of Public Building and Works, Archaeological Report No.5. London: HMSO.

Wenham, P. 1994 (2nd Edition). The Great and Close siege of York, 1644. York.

Printed from http://www.archaeoscope.org/rep_06004.php on 2008/05/10. Please view online for full details.

Website last updated March 6, 2007 | top ^